“Ange, I need to talk to you.”
“Of course you do.” Angelica sighed heavily. Josef always needed to talk to her, to yell at her, to put her in her place. And that stunt that Hope had pulled was only going to make it worse for her if it got back to Josef, which it would. Everything always did.
She sat down in the chair they’d stashed behind the reception desk and put her leg up on the knee scooter. The ache had gotten much better in the last couple of days. Which was helping. Mostly. She still was sore, but she found it easier to move around. It’d be better when she could actually walk again, too. But she had another week before she could get clearance for that.
“What do you need?” Angelica asked when Josef didn’t immediately launch into the conversation.
“Can we go somewhere else? Somewhere private?” He looked around the lobby and all the people coming and going, Sy there with the camera.
Angelica raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head. “No.”
“Ange—”
“No. It’ll take too much time for me to move, and we need to film the next sequence. Isn’t that right, Sy?” Angelica asked him directly because she knew he’d agree with her.
“Yep!” Sy nodded at Angelica in understanding, and he kept the camera on and pointed directly at her.
Good, he’d understood the assignment.
“Fine.” Josef scoffed.
He sat at the desk, crossing his arms and glaring at her the entire time. This really wasn’t what he wanted to do, but Angelica was glad she’d forced him into it. If Hope was going to continue to take recordings of Josef and send them to production and the studio, then like hell would Angelica impede that. In for a penny…
“Josef, we don’t have much time. What did you need to discuss?” Angelica crossed her arms.
“Vermont.”
“All right.” Angelica lifted her chin. She had been looking forward to heading north and into the woods. It reminded her of Mountain View West—the magic they had there when they’d filmed and the home she’d found there afterward. “What about Vermont?”
“Well, it’s about Leanne and Vermont. She’ll be coming with us.”
“No.” Angelica shook her head in disbelief. “No, she won’t. I’ll be walking before we finish filming and then you can’t argue that I need her anymore. So no, she’s not going.”
“She is.” Josef glared. “I’m not giving you a choice in the matter.”
Angelica scoffed.
“Leanne is going to replace you, Ange, whether you like it or not.” Josef said that quietly, so that only Angelica could hear it.
“We don’t have the budget to pay her for a second episode. We didn’t even have it in the budget to pay her for the first one.”Angelica gave him a serious look. She was the one that primarily dealt with the finances of the production, so she would know the best. But she did often make accommodations as they filmed.
“We got that new investor, remember?”
Angelica did remember. Because it had been her and Hope who had locked that investor into place when they’d taken that trip back to Los Angeles during their filming of season two. And that investor wouldn’t be happy to find out that Josef wanted to replace her entirely on the show.
“Don’t think that money is guaranteed if I’m not around.” Angelica pursed her lips. “Susan Navarro didn’t give that money to you. She gave it to Hope and me, for making the show what it is. And if you fire either one of us, then it’s going to be a problem.”
“Oh, I’m not going to fire you.” Josef lowered his voice. “I’m just not going to renew your contract.”
Angelica sighed. He could make that threat, but it had to be a decision between studio and production. He didn’t have that power. She shook her head and glanced at her phone as it buzzed. The number that came up was one she’d never expected to hear from again.
“Excuse me, I need to take this.” Angelica held the phone up so he could see it before she answered. “This is Angelica Shields.”
“Oh, hi.” The voice was soft, and nothing like it had been when Angelica had met the entitled woman. “This is Kayla. I’m, uh… I’m not sure if you remember me.”
“I remember you. Tucson.”
“Yeah.” Kayla nervously chuckled.
